The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-02-26
CASUAL QUOTATIONS.
Editor Telegraph !:

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Editor Telegraph:
As it has been my fortune TO live IN
a good many different and widely sep |
arated communities, the choice OF new
copgenial friends has often been forced !
upon me; and it happens, as cositate
upon the changing scenes in which,
for little while, had part, that the
traits common to my feilow-actors-or
rather that they had SO many traits in
commons q more interesting remin-
isceuce than their individual peculiaris
ties.
The fact, lamented by many hut de-
MED by few, that modest merit has
little chance when placed in competi-
ton with self-assertipg mediocrity,
makes itself more glaringty perceptibfe.
each year. Occasionally in reading the
passage-ssSeest thou man wise in
his own conceit; there is more hope OF
fool than of him"-it seems that such
statement has some truth in it, and
that the conditions of success must
have undergone an astonishing change
since the days of Solomon. We know
SO little of the everyday life of that
period that we cannot Judge if egotism
was as essential 10 advancement then
as it now appears 10 be, although the
royal preachers dictum would seem TO
indicate the contrary. Sill his utter
auce may have been like those OF many
| moralists of our own period, whose
terse sentences show phases Of life
rather as they should be than as they
are. Perhaps, too, the "pride that apes
humility'' was as common in 1000, B.
g., as in 1887, A. D.. and conceit may
have yelled itself under an appearance
of selEdepreciation that then as now de.
ceived no one thoroughly except the
person who Practiced Il. A theory
once held as belief, but now rapidly
sinking to the standpoint of fallacy,
is the one that great learning brings
modesty in its train. The man Wise in
his own conceit was prejndged TO be a
fool, while primers, copv~books, and
other engines for youthful instruction
declared that true knowledge was all
ways accompanied by humanity. Aow
intelligent self-appreciation rules the
day, and a man is thought none the
less Of because he proclaims his own
powers and accomplishments. Nor is
any profession exempt from this failing
if one may venture to stigmatize as a
failing what is SO rapidly becoming a
general practice.
A noted authority in English iitera-
ture, holding chair in one of our
foremost universities, recently consent
ed to deliver in private house, and
al high figure, a course OF lectures
upon the English poets, interspersed
with readings from their works. The
series over, the lady in whose parlors
the entertainments had been held, in
vited a choice circle of appreciative
friends to meet the distinguished gen.
tleman. The lion kindly consented 10
roar gently for the benefit of his adj
mirers, who listened in Il rapt attention
to the valuable information bestowed
upon them. They were told with
what receptions the great man was re.
ceivel when he went abroad. German,
English and French scholars united in
deIightiug 10 honor him, and III Offer
ing up incense at his shrine.
81 read extracts from CHANGER when
1 was in Oxford" he said. "The Dro
fessors there told me they had always
declared that ii was impossible to read
English of that period aloud. But
when they heard me they were com.
pletely overcome with admiration"
He further favored his hearers with
extracts from two or three letters he
had with him from noted Iiterateurs.
all tending 20 show the lofty esteem in
which he was held by those highest
in his own branch of study. The whole
recital was characterized by an almost
chiIdlike simplicity OF belief that each
particular could not fail 10 charm all
listeners. Such conceit does not fall
far short Of the sublime.
There is no intention to denv that
women are wholly guiitiess OF this
weakness. Doubtless their share is as
generous AS that possessed by the sterner